7 Tips That Will Make You A Great Fantasy Commissioner

Behind every great Fantasy Football league is a great commissioner. While at sometimes it can be a thankless job, everyone in your league knows that their commissioner deserves a lot of credit for a leagues success.

With that said, it is important that you make sure you are doing your job as a commissioner. While there are simple and obvious tasks that a commissioner must take care of, such as setting draft dates, sending out league info, and just generally making the league run smoothly, many people don’t know what it means to be a real commissioner.

By a “real commissioner,” I am really just talking about taking your commish-ing game to the next level in order to become a great commissioner and run a great league.

So, with that said, here are 7 tips that will make you a great commissioner.

7 Tips That Will Make You a Great Fantasy Commissioner

1. Pick A Good Site to Run Your League On

This one is very simple yet very important. In my opinion, you can’t have a really good league without a solid site. The best thing to do when it comes to picking a site is not to overthink it. While Fantrax and My Fantasy League are great, they aren’t very user-friendly mobile. Unless you are running a very complex or dynasty league, I suggest that you stick with CBS, Yahoo, or ESPN.

2. Have An Offline Draft (If Possible)

Obviously, if you play with people who are not in a close proximity to each other, then this isn’t an option, and that is fine. But, an offline draft is always better. It allows for the league members to get together, have a good time, truly get that Fantasy Football feel, and most of all get hyped for the season. When people are hyped for the season, that can only do good things for the league.

3. Make It A Democracy, Not A Dictatorship

This league isn’t necessarily a simpler, more relaxed league, but if it is a serious league, then polls are your best friend. In my league, we vote on all of the important rules and league decisions. This way, you can keep everyone happy. Remember, a commissioner is someone who makes sure the league is running smoothly, not someone who makes all the decisions for the rest of the league’s members.

4. Interaction is Key

Interaction is so important to keep everyone interested in the league long-term. Make sure you have group chats or email strings and an active message board. Also, make sure that your league members can see each other in person as much as possible.

If it is a work or school league, then that is easy, but if not, make sure to try and hang out on Sunday’s with your group members as much as possible. This will result in people staying more interested, and most of all, trades. Everyone knows that a league with an active trade market is always way more fun.

5. Keep It Competitive

This is very important in order to keep a successful league. If your league is competitive, people will care about it more and it will overall result in a more active and just better league. One way to keep your league competitive is to eliminate people who could ruin it. Obviously, if you are playing for pure fun, then this won’t be an issue, but if it is a serious league, make sure there are no weak links in your league.

If you have a league full of football nuts, then one person who doesn’t follow the sport or is maybe a first-time Fantasy player could ruin the league altogether. While it may be tough to make cuts, being a commissioner isn’t easy.

6. Make It A Money League

The ultimate key to keeping everyone interested in the league long-term and keeping the league competitive is to play for the dough. The more the better, but anything at stake and any prize will immediately improve your league, and it is your job as a commissioner to look for any way possible to improve your league.

7. Be Reachable

This is probably the biggest tip in order to be a great commissioner. Always be reachable. The owners of your league should be able to contact you and hear a response reasonably quickly. I obviously am not saying that you need to be waiting by your phone at every single moment waiting for a question from an owner, but you should be able to be reached in a pretty reasonable time frame. That way, you will be able to keep your league in order.

I hope these tips will help you become the best commissioner that you possibly can be this year. If you do your job as a commissioner, you whole league will benefit and you and everyone else will have a great time playing Fantasy Football this year.

If you are looking for a place to conduct a mock draft or need assistance with drafting in general, check out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard. This is a terrific tool that will help you dominate your league, along with So-Called Fantasy Experts, of course.

Josh is a current student at Las Lomas High School in California. This is his second year writing for the So-Called Fantasy Experts. He has been an avid fantasy player for a long time and loves writing. If you have any fantasy related questions, be sure to ask him on Twitter @SCFE_Josh.